and that she had
cried during her illness and asked for Stepan Trofimovitch.

"You... I..." he faltered now in a voice breaking with joy. "I was just
crying out 'who will comfort me?' and I heard your voice. I look on it
as a miracle _et je commence a croire_."

"_En Dieu! En Dieu qui est la-haut et qui est si grand et si bon!_ You
see, I know all your lectures by heart. Mavriky Nikolaevitch, what faith
he used to preach to me then, _en Dieu qui est si grand et si bon!_ And do
you remember your story of how Columbus discovered America, and they
all cried out, 'Land! land!'? My nurse Alyona Frolovna says I was
light-headed at night afterwards, and kept crying out 'land! land!'
in my sleep. And do you remember how you told me the story of Prince
Hamlet? And do you remember how you described to me how the poor
emigrants were transported from Europe to America? And it was all
untrue; I found out afterwards how they were transited. But what
beautiful fibs he used to tell me then, Mavriky Nikolaevitch! They were
better than the truth. Why do you look at Mavriky Nikolaevitch like
that? He is the best and finest man on the face of the globe and you must
like him just you do me! _Il fait tout ce que je veux._ But, dear Stepan
Trofimovitch, you must be unhappy again, since you cry out in the middle
of the street asking who will comfort you. Unhappy, aren't you? Aren't
you?"

"Now I'm happy...."

"Aunt is horrid to you?" she went on, without listening. "She's just the
same as ever, cross, unjust, and always our precious aunt! And do
you remember how you threw yourself into my arms in the garden and I
comforted you and cried--don't be afraid of Mavriky Nikolaevitch; he has
known all about you, everything, for ever so long; you can weep on his
shoulder as long as you like, and he'll stand there as long as you like!
... Lift up your hat, take it off altogether for a minute, lift up your
head, stand on tiptoe, I want to kiss you on the forehead as I kissed
you for the last time when we parted. Do you see that young lady's
admiring us out of the window? Come closer, closer! Heavens! How grey he
is!"

And bending over in the saddle she kissed him on the forehead.

"Come, now to your home! I know where you live. I'll be with you
directly, in a minute. I'll make you the first visit, you stubborn man,
and then I must have you for a whole day at home. You can go and make
ready for me."

And she galloped off with her cavalier. We r